South African networks won’t be ready for 5G smartphones next year-5G Network.co.za

Huawei recently announced that it expects to launch its first commercial 5G smartphone before the end of 2019.

The device will feature the manufacturer’s Kirin 980 chipset and upcoming Balong 5000 5G modem, which offers 5G capabilities in a package 1.3x the size of 4G modems.

This is in line with global expectations from major smartphone manufacturers, with mobile networks also expecting the first 5G-capable smartphones to launch next year.

However, while South Africans may be able to purchase these smartphones, they won’t be able to leverage their high-speed 5G connections in the immediate future.

Speaking in an interview with MyBroadband, Vodacom CTO Andries Delport said that mobile operators would not be able to deliver true mobile 5G at the time these devices release to the public.

5G support

Delport said that while the physical portion of Vodacom’s network is actively being prepared for 5G, the major obstacle to the rollout of the technology is the allocation of spectrum and the slow pace of digital TV migration.

“If you are lucky enough to have some of these wide-band radios in the network you can circumvent this.”

Delport added that Vodacom would have some of these wide-band radios in its network by next year, but it is unlikely that digital migration would have occurred by then.

The slow pace of migration to digital TV has had an adverse effect on the growth of the South African telecommunications industry, and is now actively limiting the rollout of next-generation technology.

Mobile operators have been forced to refarm spectrum to optimise their 4G networks for the rapidly-growing amount of data moving through their networks, but this solution will not provide the resources required for 5G.

Until the digital terrestrial television project run by the government has been completed, and more spectrum allocated, South Africans with 5G smartphones will be relegated to existing 4G infrastructure.

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